A public meeting to discuss the issue of National Disability Insurance will be held on Wednesday 30th June from 5.00pm to 7.30pm at the Adelaide Town Hall. Entrance will be free and it is not necessary to RSVP.
Guest speakers will include:
You can view this document
or contact Disability Speaks on 0418 555 683 or disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net.
Disability Speaks have released the following:
The Disability Speaks E Blast of 22nd March 2010 has caused some angst in the disability sector.
Some feel that successful candidate, Kelly Vincent, was slighted by some of the comments.
This was certainly not the intent and David Holst, Chair of the Disability Speaks Steering Committee, said,
“No one more than me knows how tough the fight is when you take it to the very high political level as I have found over the last 7 years. That was the message we were trying to get across and the need for the sector to unite behind Kelly and D4D. I would like to apologise to Kelly and any one else who felt any comments in the media release were inappropriate. As the original founder of Dignity4Disability I am genuinely delighted that D4D has won a seat and Kelly will be our representative. Whilst I resigned as a director of D4D some time ago, I continued to proudly support D4D financially, with access and advice and with many other substantial contributions and am really proud to have done so. I am genuinely ecstatic that D4D and Kelly have won a seat. It is one of my proudest personal moments that I have had involvement from day one as the founder of D4D and continue to do so .
Disability Speaks media releases are the work of many people but I have the final OK before distribution. The ideas distributed on DS are not the beliefs of all committee members and are often specifically designed to generate support and/or widespread community debate. Our most recent release was meant to be a call to arms for the whole disability community to step up, unite, and support Kelly and D4D. Some however read it differently. Disability Speaks remains committed to pushing the disability debate to the wider community!
With Kelly’s affirmation and confirmation of success expected on Tuesday, I personally and DS have already offered our total support to D4D and Kelly. Disability Speaks and I personally have great resources and networks that we will utilize for D4D and Kelly ’s advantage. We call on everyone in the disability community to do the same. No doubt in coming weeks D4D will be looking for new members, financial support and volunteers to do a plethora of tasks.
Disability Speaks was formed to deliberately take a very different approach to the hard political agenda. We have plans for DS to continue for the long term and look forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with Kelly and D4D and fighting the good fight. It is essential that many other sector groups as possible do so to maximise the moment.
Kelly’s confirmation will be symbolic for the disability sector and I will applaud her loudly!”
With the possibilities offered by a Federal National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), it will be critical that pressure is again exerted on the major political parties to clearly state their views and policies on NDIS and other key disability issues in the run up to the federal election. Disability Speaks is planning to make some exciting operational and strategic changes for the long term. Suggestions include:
- Planning meetings and “E” blasts on a more regular schedule
- Hosting more public events including conferences and public meetings
- Inviting more subscribers to contribute their views and opinions for the “E” blast circulars
- Appointing an editor for “Disability Speaks Online” to oversee the preparation and distribution of the “E” blast circulars
- Appointing a Social Networking coordinator eg face book, twitta and website content
- Exploring how subscriber comments can be placed on the website and the development of blogs
- A calendar of forthcoming events and activities be established and maintained
- Setting up an NDIS subcommittee to explore public awareness options around this program
These proposed suggestions and any others you would care to table will be discussed at the next Steering Committee meeting to be held on
Thursday April 15th at 1.00 pm
at Disability Information & Resource Centre (DIRC), 195 Gilles Street.
If you would like to discuss these and any other issues, please come and share your ideas.
Peter Cookson
Acting Online EditorDisability Speaks Steering Committee
Disability Speaks www.disabilityspeaks.com.au
Disability Speaks have released these final comments on the upcoming SA state election:
For the final comments on the election Disability Speaks asked the major political parties to summarize in their own words how they see things and what they have to offer if elected on Saturday.
On behalf of the Disability community we would like to thank them for their time and effort in doing so and for their ready availability and accessibility during the election period.
Copies of each parties responses are attached and please note a number contain links to further information and party websites regarding disability services.
We would also like to thank all those people who using the online technology available have helped circulate the disability message via their databases and mailing lists to thousands of interested recipients. Information is power and by keeping people informed of the crisis in disability services and the direction of developments we believe we take small steps to maybe one day reaching far better and long overdue outcomes. We strongly encourage you do distribute this material widely.
The next meeting of the Disability Speaks steering committee will be held at the Disability Information Resource Centre (DIRC) at 1.00pm on Thursday 15th April at 1.00pm. These are open meetings and any interested persons are welcome. No doubt there will be much discussion on the election out come and very importantly the federally proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which will certainly occupy much thought and interest in the disability community in 2010.
We wish Dignity 4 Disability well in the election as they chase the elusive 11th upper house seat and thank all those people who responded with kind words regarding the sad loss of Paul Collier. Their thoughts will be passed to the family.
The response below seemed ironical and we share it with you!
Dear David,
Thank you for that fitting and sincere tribute to Paul.
On March 11th 18 years ago Paul received a Sir Charles Bright Scholarship to assist him with his studies.
The strangely ironic thing is that it was presented by “The Hon Mike Rann M.A. M.P., Minister of Employment and Further Education”!
We remember a fine young man.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Penn
Administrator
Sir Charles Bright Scholarship Trust.
Disability Speaks is committed to building our database and maintaining disability advocacy and communication for the long term. Thanks again for your support and good luck to all parties on Saturday. We live in a great country and a democracy and for that we should always be grateful. We also live with the great joy and pleasure that being part of the disability community brings all of us at times.
David Holst
Chair
Disability Speaks Steering Committee
0418555683
Please also read these policy documents from the Liberal, Family First, Greens and Labor parties.
Disability Speaks have released the following on the recent death of Dr Paul Collier, candidate with Dignity For Disability:
Dr Paul Collier R.I.P.
A great South Australian!
Dr Paul Collier, author, historian and respected disability advocate and candidate with Dignity for Disability in the 2010 South Australian State election, will be farewelled tomorrow ,Thursday March 18th at 1:30pm at Centennial Park, Goodwood Road, Pasadena.
The funeral will be followed by a celebration at the Tonsley Hotel, 1274 South Road, Clovelly Park.
Paul Collier was a remarkable man! There are many people who aspire to great wealth, great success or great fame and who in the end despite what ever their achievements impress no-one but themselves. Paul Collier impressed, not because of his boyish good looks, not because of his engaging smile, gentleman like pommy charm or obvious intellect but because he wanted to make a difference.
Paul was a leader who people looked up to and listened to. He was not a man who sought personal publicity.Paul was a man who truly believed he could make a difference and was determined to do so. He straddled long term sector divides between the physically and intellectually disabled putting aside ideological rifts for the benefit of the greater good. Paul understood the disability sector will only get appropriate support when it unites and puts behind it the old days when some strangely believed they had a right to tell others how to live . Paul truly believed in choice.
When Paul’s luck took a turn for the worse at age 21 it was not the end but a new beginning . Paul lived in a way we would all admire and his handling of adversity was a real life example and a positive reminder life is only what we make of it and that maybe, for many of us,our problems are more imagined than serious. But when his hand was dealt he responded like very few have or ever will ,he has been an inspiration to many . I have only known Paul for 8 years and I wish I had known him earlier and I desperately wish I could have known him for a long long time to come! In the time I knew him Paul was simply magnificent ,we lunched together often as we plotted and schemed to overthrow governments. Paul was a long term student of politics, formerly a very active ALP branch member, (but more recently very disenchanted) who believed that politicians should make a difference.
We shared a common disdain for Mike Rann who’s failed promises and careless handling of the truth we found offensive . If some one told me Paul was reading the 2010 ALP policy at the time of the massive stroke , in which Rann launched another major howler by claiming $31 million of money announced in previous budgets as ” new money ” I could imagine Pauls angst.
Paul and I in recent weeks were encouraged that Mike ‘ s days as SA leader of the ALP appear numbered with either the voters or the ALP power brokers sure to get him soon. While I dislike political parties in general I still highly respect some politicians like disability stalwarts Frances Bedford, Grace Portelesi,Chris Hanna and Robert Brokenshire and my local member David Pisoni………. but Paul had become increasingly very cynical given his genuine ALP background and personal beliefs.
Paul had little time for the Liberals and would not be amused that the disability policy Isobel Redmond presented as Shadow Minister in 2006 was tens of millions and of dollars better than the current policy which is questionably even ” deposit money ” to fund the forward promises. Paul and I had discussed the Liberal aim that clearing the critical category one waiting lists looked virtually impossible. We shared concern that the shadow that service cuts of the lowest funded disability sector in the nation may happen, under the guise of self managed funding becoming a cost saving strategy. Paul was not a Liberal true believer and who they really stood for and I agreed that regardless of what Rann promised he would never fix the disability sector hence Paul’s insistence that D4D must go on.
Sometimes we argued , because Paul was strongly opinionated and more than a little stubborn, traits I could relate to! Such traits are essential if you are going to stay the trip as a disability advocate it would appear and combined with our common philosophically and ideological base around consumer driven choice and his persistence and resolve that that I held in awe we charged on! In the toughest days of our early D4D initiatives his effervescence and energy never wavered , without his resolve D4D may have quickly disappeared
When Paul stood as the inaugural D4D Legislative Council candidate in 2006 he genuinely believed he could win a seat. We can only imagine the change Paul would have driven if he had ever been Premier even for just one day? The world of disability services in SA would have changed for ever!
For the 2010 SA election Paul hounded me incessantly to do it all again! The stress and strain was enormous last time and my resolve was questionable. But Paul did not waiver. He rolled his sleeves up and got going. And now with the finishing line in sight of another positive D4D campaign Paul is tragically gone!
He may be gone from our lives but not our hearts. On the day that I die , I hope I will be proud of the life I have lived. I treasure my family, my achievements, friends and my career but mostly I will be proud of my advocacy work. Like many I would like to feel I have made a contribution? But deep in my heart I will know always that some of my targets were only achieved because I was fortunate enough to meet, befriend and work along side Dr Paul Collier . He was a wise man, a clever man and a good man and his efforts in being one of South Australia’s leading disability advocate over the last 20 years should be recognised.
After the election in my role as Chair of Disability Speaks we will be supporting Paul’s family in attempting to create a lasting memory of Paul’s achievements. Paul must be long remembered given his contribution and that he was the first to stand on a SA disability ticket for our parliament. We hope many of you will join with us in petitioning for recognition in line with the Collier family wishes for recognition of a great South Australian.
We also hope one day a person representing the disability sector will be elected to parliament.
Paul would be extra proud if that happens!!
That must remain a long term aim!
I will vote D4D in the upper house on Saturday, not because of Paul but because of what the D4D party stands for!
I hope you consider doing so as well!
After this election, whatever the outcome Paul would want strong disability advocacy to go on! We hope Paul’s baton will pass to some one with his special qualities. Paul leaves enormous shoes to fill.
Rest in peace Paul
Forever with us!
David Holst
Chair
Disability Speaks Steering Committee
0418555683
Disability Speaks have released the following statement regarding the upcoming SA state election:
At the Disability Speaks Public Meeting on February 17th, the Minister for Disability, Jennifer Rankine, did not reveal policy or funding initiatives and suggested we ” watch this space “.Well we watched and we watched and the Labor Party have released their Disability Policy for the 2010 election. The question is, was it worth waiting for? and most importantly how does the ALP stack up against the Liberal 2010 Disability policies.
The ALP Policy document confirms the allocation of additional education funding, $17.25 million to establish six new special education units and a range of early intervention services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders including $4.0 million in support for private schools . This funding is not disability funding as it comes from the Education Dept budget and we have noted in a previous Disability Speaks communique and agreed that they are well targeted and will be very much appreciated by many with children in the disability community.
The 2010 Official ALP Disability Policy does however announce new funding of $17.5 million for equipment and home modifications for adults and children with a disability. Disability Speaks has been running media advertisements in the metropolitan press demanding that this area of the disability unmet needs waiting lists be addressed and this program will support that call! This funding is new money over 4 years.
But Disability Speaks has also previously argued that at least $120 million needs to be spent over the next four years by Government to address the current critical crisis in accommodation, respite and support services across South Australia. Sadly there is no new funding in the ALP policy for any other critical needs.
Subsequant to the ALP Official policy launch the government has also announced an additional transition program with $14.5 million dollars over four years to assist in the transfer of clients with disabilities from hospital to appropriate accommodation. This again is a new funding iniative!
The original 17 page ALP Policy Document is an impressive presentation but only offers the additional equiptment support plus plenty of sometimes questionable rhetoric . We are unable to deliver the ALP document direct online because of the file size but will supply on request the complete file to any Disability Speaks supporters who would like a full copy. Please ask by return email and we will fire it off to you! We do believe it is available online from the ALP wedsite.
The ALP policy makes much of the impending Cappo/ Social inclusion inquiry and how this will be the basis for a future plan. This is however noguarantee the plan will be supported by the ALP and many cynics in the disability community are seeing it as another Rann fairy tale like his promised 2001 Disability pre election policy guaranteeing a ten year plan that has never eventuated.
There is however no doubt at this stage the ALP has committed more funding for disability services in the next four years than the Liberal party. The ALP policies also appear to be appropriately funded.
We have attached for your interest a direct comparison based on our interpretation around the questions from our Public meeting of howDisability Speaks interpret the relative position of the two major parties in their election policies. Please circulate this file to all your supporters and print a copy for your noticboards and hand out!
We have asked and will deliver online on Thursday “The Final Word” in their own words a final one page summary from both the ALP and Liberal Party where they state their own 2010 Disability Committments and support position
Me ……………….I have not decided who to vote for yet? Both parties positions and history remain open to much conjecture and I have yet to see either Rann or Redmond talk about disability issues like they really matter. The choices on offer appear totally inadequate and a bit like being asked would you like to be tortured by testicualr electrocution or waterboarding?…………… there are no great outcomes which is very distressing.
We will keep you informed as the week progresses
Good luck in picking a winner!
David Holst
Chair
Disability Speaks Steering Committee
0418555683
Disability Speaks have also released this comparison between the Labor and Liberal positions on disability.
The next meeting of the Disability Speaks steering committee will be held at the Disability Information Resource Centre (DIRC) on Thursday 4th March at 12.30pm.
From Disability Speaks:
With the SA election campaign now in full swing we need to ensure we provide a balanced update of the promises of all major political parties and any public events between the meeting and the election.
All are welcome to attend!
We hope by this date to have the ALP Official 2010 Election Policy
We will also have by then the transcripts of the presentations made and the answers too the 8 key questions asked of our political leaders at the public meeting last week.
These will no doubt be closely scrutinized by the broad disability community.
The Liberal Policies while polished and rhetorically strong may or may not be the best offer on the table in the lead up to the election.
With the major thrust of the public campaign in the media having moved very firmly onto a platform of “who can you trust”, the disability sector will no doubt be looking for the same outcome!
Too often in the past the major parties have promised the world and delivered little. Disability guarantees have been worthless.
Disability Speaks is committed to ensuring our disability parliamentary leaders will be held accountable in both the short and long term in 2010.
While working towards the important state election outcome Disability Speaks is also focused on the long term.
Some further information in regard to our previous post on the upcoming Pre Election Disability Policy Meeting.
You are reminded to send any questions you wish asked of our political leaders at the meeting to disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net.
You are also invited to view the Liberal Party policy file on Education for children with ASD.
You are also invited to the next Disability Speaks steering committee meeting here at the Disability Information Resource Centre (Dirc) in Gilles Street on Thusday Feb 11th at 12.00pm where we will be finalizing plans for the Forum the following week and planning Disability Speaks activities past that event. Volunteers willing to help organise the Public Meeting night will be greatly appreciated.
Wednesday February 17th at 7.00pm.
St Peters College Memorial Hall
St Peters College
Kent Town
(enter off Dequetiville Tce opposite the Botanic Gardens)
Chair: David Holst, Disability Speaks
If you are a person with a disability, a family carer, NGO, or disability sector worker or supporter you are encouraged to attend.
If you would like to ask a question of our parliamentary leaders please submit suggested questions online no later than Wednesday 10th February 2010 to disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net. It is unlikely time will permit questions from the floor on the evening. All questions should be submitted online prior to the event and may be presented on the evening by disability sector leaders. A crowd of 400 is expected.
July 28th 2009
Following the launch of Disability Speaks in April this year, we have been humbled by the increasing support and encouragement we have received from many in the community, who believe people with disabilities, their families and carers deserve better. Many have been calling for action for sometime, but this was brought into sharp focus following the tragic event reported in the media recently, in which a mother is alleged to have murdered her intellectually disabled son.
There is without doubt a genuine feeling of disgust in the wider community that South Australia has badly failed those who are most vulnerable and that much more needs to be done. We agree and would like you to help us convey this message. When the State Government slashed the Budget for Disability Advocacy agencies by more than 50% two years ago, it effectively slammed the door on people with disabilities, leaving some people wondering whether this was an attempt to silence people with a disability, their carers and families and stifle community outrage.
We would like people with a disability, their families, carers or anyone with an interest in ensuring people with a disability receive the support they deserve to consider doing three very important things:
1. Help us build our free electronic subscriber database!
Your help is needed to enrol as many people with an interest in improving the lives of people with a disability, their families and carers to subscribe to Disability Speaks database so they can receive direct up date electronic communiqués and news . If you could subscribe 10 people, and request that they also subscribe 10 other people that would be appreciated. To subscribe simply email Subscribe to disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net
2. Join the team – join our Steering Committee!
Join the Disability Speaks Steering Committee. The next meeting will be held at the Disability Information & Resource Centre SA (DIRC), located at 195 Gilles Street, Adelaide at 1.00pm Monday 3rd August, to discuss strategies to convey the key messages.
3. Tell us your story!
Tell us your family story in 400 words or less. If you are waiting for equipment,accommodation, respite or in home support let us know how long you have been waiting and what the struggle is really like.
We would like to hear from people with a disability, their families and carers that are facing challenging situations and discuss how we can share your story and highlight the despair that exists. Please email us at disabilityspeaks@internode.on.net . With disability representing the largest category of complaints received by the South Australian Equal Opportunity Commission, we would like to hear first hand about how long you have been waiting and the challenges that you face in being given a fair go.
Access to the Disability Speaks online database is available to other groups, service providers and agencies to communicate key information about the SA disability sector. Whilst Disability Speaks has no affiliation with any government bodies, political parties or service providers the concept of delivering important information from a variety of sources is fundamental to the key aims of Disability Speaks in promoting the sector, including both the outstanding achievements of people with a disability and the challenge of addressing unmet service and support needs of people with a disability throughout metropolitan and country areas.
Material to be distributed online by Disability Speaks will need to be
The Steering Group of Disability Speaks reserves the right not to distribute any material without explanation. Disability Speaks seeks to advance awareness and discussion on major initiatives, issues and events.
Organisations wishing to avail themselves of this free offer to distribute information via the Disability Speaks powerful distribution network (which is now heading towards 5,000 recipients) should send requests via the link below.
Organisations with online contact lists are invited to add their recipients directly to the Disability Speaks database file. Our target is to build over 10,000 disability supporter recipients. In order to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act such a database transfer should be executed after contacts are advised that such a transfer will occur and are given the opportunity to decline. Disability Speaks can supply technological support to assist in this transfer mechanism.
The Disability Speaks website will be launched shortly at www.disabilityspeaks.com.au. It is not currently available online .
Please distribute this information as widely as possible.
DAVID HOLST
Further information: 0418 555 683
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday
9am - 5pm
The Disability Information and Resource Centre
195 Gilles Street, Adelaide SA 5000 Australia
Phone (08) 8236 0555 Fax (08) 8236 0566 SA only 1300 305 558
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